Demolition of illegal structures marred by controversies in Mancherial

Owners of some commercial establishments raised objections to the officials for razing in the structures without serving notices. Some of them moved the High Court to stop the demolitions.

Mancherial: A drive for demolition of illegal structures taken up recently by Mancherial municipality as part of widening of roads is marred by controversies.

Various businesses of the town have been experiencing a slump for the past few months. The businessmen expected they would be able to make profits by brisk sales of garments, jewelry and home appliances at the time of annual Dasara and Diwali festivals. However, their hopes were dashed as the municipal officials began bulldozing illegal structures to widen roads.

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“The commercial establishments predicted the gloomy situation would be improved by Dasara and Diwali festivals known for shopping for garments and jewelry. Razing down certain illegal structures left impacted the commercial establishments as the customers did not show interest in visiting the half-demolished buildings. The establishments pinned many hopes on the forthcoming season of marriages slated for December,” an owner of a jewelry store said.

Owners of some commercial establishments raised objections to the officials for razing in the structures without serving notices. Some of them moved the High Court to stop the demolitions.They hoped that they would a judgement in their favour soon. However, they were receiving threats from unknown persons for their opposition to the demolitions.

Meanwhile, a trench measuring 100 meters in length, four meters in depth and 1.5 meters in width was dug up on the side of busy road between Archana Tex-Vaibhavam shopping mall to construct side drains. It is blocking customers from visiting the commercial establishments located on one of sides of the road, affecting businesses of the commercial establishments.

Surprisingly, the work on the side drains reportedly commenced without inviting tenders. The officials, however, said that the Mancherial municipality approved a resolution of the work at an estimated cost of Rs 5 lakh. They clarified that the side drains would be built by inviting tenders in a week. Locals wondered as to how a work could be begun without completing the process of tendering.

When asked, Mancherial commissioner A Maruthi Prasad said that no commercial establishment was demolished as part of widening of roads. He stated that owners of the business establishments were voluntarily razing down their illegal structures. It may be recalled that local MLA K Premsagar Rao had recently visited the market and requested the owners to cooperate with officials in demolishing the unauthorized structures to widen the roads.